Hello! Happy New Year('s Eve) wherever you are! This is a present from me to you. (I had so much fun writing the second part! Not that I don't like the first part...it's emotional in a more explicit way.)
Dedicated to Ichiro-kun. Goodbye.
He's so much more than me, she thought, lying awake at night. He's smart and he almost always wins. I don't really deserve this, but... - she bit her lip and tried to smile crookedly through the tears that wet her cheeks - I love him. It's not about his looks (but he IS really, really good-looking); it's not about his accomplishments (but he IS really, really good at coordinating). It's about the way he is; it's about him. I love him. She shuddered, sobbing inside. But he wouldn't love me. He thinks I'm stupid, that I'm a terrible coordinator. And, crying into the pillow, as her tears soaked the soft fabric, she drifted away, away from reality.
Little did she know that, on the other side of Hoenn, the one of her thoughts was thinking of her.
Sitting at his desk, he scribbled furiously, devising new attack combinations. Contest season was coming up again...and, with it, he would see her. He lifted his head from his carefully-calculated plans to glance into her face. Her blue eyes stared back at him, bright, as she smiled at the camera. Her brown pigtails framed her happy expression. He smiled fondly, then scowled. Pull yourself together, he scolded himself. Focus - that's the only way to win. Turning his attention to page he had already filled, he turned to a new sheet in the pocket notebook, his pen poised to continue his strategizing. But, to his surprise, he drew a blank. All he could think about was her. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, remembering when he had first met her - on that beach, on that day that seemed so long ago.
He had been annoyed and a bit angry, so he understood now how his behavior might have been the tiniest bit cross. (Well, he reflected regretfully, maybe much more cross than that.) But, beyond that, he should have (would have) forgiven her...if not for one small thing. It irritated her, and when she became that upset, well, it was quite amusing. For some time, he believed that he only wanted to be the thorn in her side because he found it entertaining. Later, he would want to believe it...but he simply couldn't. He couldn't run away from the fact that he pricked her because he wanted to be remembered, because he wanted to be special to her. And there was one more fact that he couldn't hide from: the fact that he loved her. He loved her so much that sometimes he found it a struggle to not go insane when he couldn't see her.
He sighed. Maybe he really was going crazy. Then again... He glanced at the corded phone sitting on his desk. He knew what he was going to do. Yet, he didn't stop himself, as crazy as he knew it seemed. Almost subconsciously, he dialed the number, slowly and precisely, as if the world depended on it. As the phone rang, he almost stopped breathing. After he heard two rings, his palms became clammy and he suddenly felt self-conscious. He began questioning himself. Maybe he wasn't good enough. But as soon as the ringing was replaced by the sleepy voice of the girl of his dreams, he knew that everything would be okay. Because that was the way that it was - two unsettled, unsure lovers found love in surprising places: in each other's hearts.
This was written as an inspiration from real life. It was, of course, abstracted to fit the Pokemon world; yet it still contains references to the real world today. To those out there who have felt like this, love can be found. But maybe, just maybe, not in the one you thought.